With increasing censorship in Turkey, the number of fortune-tellers and astrologers is on the rise. Astrologers and clairvoyants are enjoying a position of authority, warning their audience about bombs by looking at the alignment of the stars in the skies, predicting the date of a rebellion according to the position of planets. As populism, lack of empathy, and discrimination are reaching new extremes both in the world and in Turkey, everyone is asking the question what will happen next. Future Tense investigates our habits of information consumption by mixing propaganda, news, and fortune-telling. Fortune-telling reflects a desire to believe that a personal trauma will be resolved, as Freud once said. The Future Tense project illuminates the question as to what it is that we want to believe.
Original music by İsmail Genç aka Havantepe; with voice recordings of Karoly Alliotti, Özkan Cangüven, Sinan Okan Çavuş, Aslı Çavuşoğlu, and Selin Murat; mixed by İsmail Genç aka Havantepe at Circuit Room, Istanbul
The radio piece is based on the newspaper format of Future Tense, which was commissioned by Pinchuk Art Centre.